The mass media is doing everything in its power right now to cause a panic regarding the Fukushima reactor plant.

Really.

Think about this for a moment. The reactor not only withstood a 9.0 earthquake, but a tsunami as well, and all that has happened is that the building has been damaged. The protective concrete barrier has not been breached, not has the inner reactor core been that badly damaged. The problem is that the water isn’t cooling, creating steam, which has been released into the atmosphere. This gas that is released is radioactive and has a half-life of… wait for it… 3 to 4 seconds.

Yeah. The radiation doesn’t even have time to reach the ground. For a point of reference, arsenic has a half-life of forever. It doesn’t degrade, ever. Think about that when you plot to poison someone.

However, residual radiation is what everyone is afraid of. Currently the levels are at the same as receiving an x-ray. Dangerous in the long run if subjected to continued exposure, but pretty much safe for the time being. And since the Japanese are taking a lot of precautions preventing prolonged exposure, everything is still under control.

But you wouldn’t know it from reading the media reports.

Here’s a good example of how fair they’ve blown it out of proportion.

A typical coal power plant gives off 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant, pollutes almost five times as much and suffers from more accidents in a year than there have ever been in nuclear power plants. When was the last time you saw breathless media coverage on a coal plant?

Yeah, thought so.

Look, people, these nuclear power plants are designed to withstand just about anything outside of a nuclear bomb being dropped on them. The Japanese have been extremely careful in their designs and engineering, which has led to a plant that was only rated to withstand an 8.2 earthquake to live through a 9.0.

So quit freaking out, quit listening to the mass hysteria being spat out by the news agencies, and do your research.

The Japanese will thank you.